I'll Keep Running!
by JaminJazzi
Summary: Jade was the mom of the group. She was the reasonable one that everyone trusted. She had to make decisions. She didn't get a break from her title, but one person never saw her as the mom of the group. She was his best friend. She was the girl he loved. He promised to get her out of the Maze and take her to a better place. He promised to bring her home. He promised to keep running.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Things become routine. When you spend every day trapped behind the same walls, when you have to help out with the camp in multiple different ways, when you always wait by the doors at the same time everyday, like clock work, for him to come running through them just to give you a hug…it becomes routine.

It almost feels like things will never change.

Because we're trapped.

Forever.

"Chuck?" I called the familiar round faced, chocolate curl haired boy's name. He turned around and smiled once he saw me.

"Jade!"

"Did you eat?" I asked the boy in front of me.

"You're not my mom." Chuck sighed as I nagged him like I did everyday.

"I know, but I want to make sure you're healthy." I giggled as I placed my hand on top of his mop of curls and shook them around slightly. He waved my hand off his head as he scowled at me.

"What are you doing right now? Nothing?" I shook my head before placing my hand at the back of my neck and rubbing the sore skin.

"I've been helping with preparing the dinner for tonight. I've been looking down for the past few hours, so I thought a good walk around would do me some good before I go see Newt." I explained.

"Jade!" I turned around at the sound of someone yelling my name. The leader of the group casually walked over to me and nodded towards Chuck. "Hey Chuck."

"Hey Gally." The boy greeted the leader.

"What's up, Gally?" I asked the familiar blue-eyed boy.

"Jeff asked me to come and get you. It's about Luther." I turned around and looked at Chuck and said my goodbye before leaving with Gally to go seek out our friend who was healing at the moment from a wound he received from inside the maze.

"Is it healing?" I asked Gally as the two of us began to walk across the familiar grass towards the little shack that had our injured friend inside.

"Jeff only said that he wanted you to come and look at him." With that answer I knew that Luther didn't get any better. His injury must have gotten worse and I needed to figure out how to help him. Once we walked into the small shack Jeff greeted us.

"I need you to look at this." Jeff waved me over to the sweaty Luther and lifted up the bandage that was around his right leg. The once simply cut skin was now completely inflamed. I grimaced at the sight before placing the bandage back over the wound. "What do you think?" My right hand moved up to my hair and played with it. I pushed it completely out of my face before moving it all to the right side of my neck and letting it fall over my shoulder.

"We need to bring the swelling down, so he'll be more comfortable, but you don't want to put something hard on him because that's not comfortable. Which means it has to be a paste of some sort or…hot water."

"Just plain hot water?" Gally asked me.

"It needs something in it. Hot water alone won't help heal it…" I shut my eyes and placed my index and middle finger on my temple as I began to think of what to use. I waited and waited until a flashing image of a dried brown leaf came into view. "Bay leaf." I whispered.

"Huh?"

"I know how to bring the swelling down. Just give me some time. I know I can find it." I excitedly said as I ran out of the shack and towards the forest. As I looked around the forest I tried to spot the leaves that I was looking for. The familiar sound of branches crunching underneath my shoes was comforting as I continued to search for the brown leaves. As my fingers and eyes scanned the branches filled with leaves I noticed the leaf that I saw before and picked a few off before running back to camp.

As I ran back to Jeff I grabbed a nearby pot and went to go fill it up with water from the stream. Once that was completed I went to go make a small fire and placed the leaves in the water. I waited for it to come to a boil before taking it away from the fire and letting it cool down enough, so I could take it inside to Jeff and let him put a rag in it.

"Continue to place this on it and it should bring the swelling down." I instructed Jeff. He nodded his head and I took that as my turn to leave, but Jeff stopped me when he asked,

"How did you know to do that?" I looked over my shoulder at him and shrugged my shoulders.

"Like how any of us know how to do anything…I just remembered it." I answered before leaving. When I walked back outside I saw the familiar dirty sky blue shirt with black hair figure run towards me. As Minho reached me he wrapped his arms around me like he always did and covered my petite frame completely. I wrapped my arms around him before he let go of me and stood back, so I could look at him and make sure he came back unharmed.

"Minho! Good to see you man." Jeff greeted his friend as he stood out of the treatment shack behind me.

"Hey Jeff. How's Luther?" He asked about his fellow Runner.

"He's going to be fine, Jade figured out a way to help bring his swelling down, so I'm hoping he'll be back up and walking within the next day or two." He answered.

"Jade figured it out?" Minho inquired before standing beside me and ruffling up the top of my head with his hand. "I knew I kept you around for something." He joked as I pushed his hand away.

"I'm literally stuck with you…I don't have a choice." I sighed as I looked away from him.

"Mom of the Glade strikes again." Jeff teased me with the nickname that I had gained over the three years that I had been here.

* * *

"There better be a girl in the Box tomorrow. I don't know how much longer I can handle this." I groaned.

"We've been here three years." I sighed as I sat down beside Minho. With my back up against the tree I looked up at the dark sky above our heads.

"Thanks for the reminder." He sarcastically said.

"And you're positive that there's no way out?" My head shot to face him. I searched his face for an answer, but he only gave me a light smile as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I rested my head on his shoulder and continued to look up at the sky.

"I'll keep looking. I said that we'll get out of here."

"Mom! Mom!"

"Where's Jade?"

"She's probably with Minho…"

"Mom!" Minho chuckled at the sounds of the boys yelling out my nickname while I sighed and placed the palm of my hand on my forehead.

"I really hope there's a girl in the Box. I don't know how much longer I can take this."


	2. Chapter 2

_"_ _Where am I? What is this place? Who are you?" Questions came flying out of my mouth as I stared at the dark chocolate coloured skinned man and the black hair boy with the round face._

 _"_ _It's okay. You need to calm down though." The chocolate man said to me._

 _"_ _Calm down? I'm in this weird place with guys that I don't know and I don't even…wait…what's my name? I don't even remember my name!" I screamed as I grabbed onto his shirt. He placed his large hands on top of mine and nodded his head._

 _"_ _You'll remember your name in a few days, but you have to calm down, so we can talk."_

 _"_ _It's okay, we'll help keep you safe." The round faced boy said to me. I looked at him with a confused look before I replied with,_

 _"_ _What if I can keep myself safe?"_

* * *

I sighed as I stretched my back. Minho had already gone into the Maze to try and figure a way out with the rest of the Runners. Just like every morning before he would leave I would feel him place a soft kiss on my forehead and hear the light sound of his footsteps walk away from my hammock.

When the familiar sound of the Box's arrival echoed through the air I walked over to the group that had closed off the entrance.

"Is it a girl?" I asked as I pushed through the crowd, but Gally opened up the top and jumped inside to welcome the boy.

"Day one Greenie, rise and shine." Gally grabbed the boy by his light blue shirt and pulled him up out of the Box. He looked around at everyone with a scared face. The rest of the boys began to make their snarky remarks before the new boy pushed his way through the group and began to sprint away from us.

"We've got a runner!" Zart yelled as we all watched him run away from us, but we were disappointed when he tripped over something on the ground and fell forward.

"Well he won't be getting very far." I made my remark before crossing my arms over my chest and walking towards the little hut that had Luther inside. "I just wanted a girl, damn it." As I continued to walk further and further away from the sound of the boys talking to the Greenie I wandered into the room that had Luther inside.

"Jade!" Luther greeted me as he sat up on the table. I smiled and waved at him as I walked closer to him.

"Looks like you're awake. Should we look at your leg?" I suggested and he nodded his head. As I lifted up the bandage I saw that the once red swollen skin was now a nice tanned colour again.

"So…" I placed the bandage back over his leg and smiled at him.

"You're all good to start walking again."

"And what about running?"

"I don't think so. You should wait a little bit longer…how about we check on it in about…three days?" I suggested to him. As I nodded my head I began to make my way towards the door until Luther stopped me,

"Was it another guy?" I sighed as I nodded my head.

"Yup. You know, sometimes I think that I was put here by accident." I mumbled.

"Accident?" I shook my head as I waved at him and smiled.

"Just ignore me. Now get going to Gally. I'll see you in three days, okay?" Luther nodded his head as I walked out of the little shack. I looked towards the group of boys that had gathered around the entrance of the Maze before I felt someone pinch my sides and my body jolted in the air to get away from whatever had pinched me. As I turned around Minho stood in front of me with a smirk plastered onto his face as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"What was that for?" I asked him.

"For not being the first person I saw when I got out of the Maze today, instead I saw that damn Greenie." He complained as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me closer to him. I was about to respond before I heard some yelling by the group of boys around the entrance. I looked over my shoulder and pushed myself away from Minho before walking towards the group. "Just leave it, Jade."

"No. I should go check it out." I told him as I began to jog towards the group. As I got closer to the group the doors to the Maze began to close. Gally had pushed his way through the crowd and began to stomp away from everyone muttering,

"Damn Greenie. I'll push him in next time." I gave the leader a quizzical look before walking towards the group and seeing Chuck and the Greenie standing together.

"What's up Chuck?"

"Hey, mom!" He waved to me. I sighed as I approached the two.

"Mom?" The Greenie's eyebrow rose as his eyes moved between Chuck and I. I smiled and wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him along with me.

"I think we should have a little chat, huh? Chuck, can you leave him to me, please?" His mop of curls bounced on his head as he nodded his head and walked away.

"So, you're Chuck's mom?" I hit the Greenie on the back of his head at his ridiculous question.

"Do I look old enough to have a child who's probably twelve?" I snapped back. I watched as he swallowed the lump in his throat before I waved him to follow me.

"Where're you taking me?"

"Don't sound so scared, we're just going to go sit down for a bit." As he stepped into stride with me we began to make our way back to the village.

"So why does Chuck call you mom?"

"It isn't just Chuck. Most of the Gladers call me mom." I answered.

"Why?"

"Because I'm the only girl? Because I look after them like they were my children? Because I'm sensible? Because I'm motherly? Because I'm the only girl? I don't know…if I didn't like it then I'd put a stop to it, but it kind of grew on me." I explained. The two of us reached a nearby tree and I sat down on the ground and leaned against the bark. I patted the ground next to me, so the Greenie knew to sit down beside me.

"Why're you being so nice to me?" I looked at him and smiled.

"Because I'm the mom, remember?"

"What's up with that Gally guy?" I looked over to the group and saw Gally talking to Newt by the vines that barred fruit.

"He just wants to keep us all safe. He's not that bad of a guy, I mean…no one has killed him yet and he's been with us for three years."

"Three years?" I nodded my head.

"Yup, some of us have been here for a while, but we're still here, so we're doing something right, right?"

"Yea, I guess so." He mumbled as he looked down at the ground. I looked at him and placed my hand on his knee.

"Look, I know this is pretty scary, but don't worry. We're a family, so you're not alone, okay?"

"I have another question."

"What is it?"

"If you're the mom then who's the dad?" My head leaned backwards as a laugh erupted from the pit of my stomach.

"You're a nosy little bugger, aren't ya?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Don't look so upset, Minho." I placed my hands on his shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. He looked up from his spot and saw my smiling face. He smiled back at me before placing his right hand on top of mine.

"I'm not upset." He responded.

"We're celebrating! We have another Greenie and he seems like a pretty decent guy." I said to him. I walked around him and sat down in-between his legs.

"I know, but we'll just have to see how special he is." He said. I sighed as I placed my back against the stump Minho was sitting on. He placed a small kiss into my hair as we looked at the boys. Many of them were already fighting with Gally in their little manmade circle. Gally continued to throw one person down onto the ground. The sounds of people talking and laughing filled the hair as the fire from the pit grew.

"The Greenie almost went into the Maze when you came back." I began to fill Minho in on what had happened during the day.

"Oh ya? Does he have a death wish or is he just stupid?"

"Probably a bit of both." I giggled. "Gally pushed him out of the way though. He was pretty mad."

"Did he say anything to you?" I shook my head. Gally and I have never seen eye-to-eye and I don't believe we ever will. Our personalities continuously clashed and we always get into yelling matches with each other. The other Gladers don't like watching our fights because it makes them feel uneasy. That's the problem with being the mom – you're not allowed to show too much emotion.

"I'll be able to come running with you again Minho!" Luther excitedly came towards the two of us with a smile on his face.

"Oh ya? Does mom approve of this?" Minho teased as he lightly nudged my shoulder with his knee.

"I'm not a mom!" I told him off as I stood up. Minho stood up and smiled at me as he reached for my hair.

"Is that a grey hair?" He teased me again as I scoffed at him and lightly hit his chest.

"Get out of here! I'm the best looking one here!" I retorted. He laughed as his arm snaked its way around my waist and pulled me closer.

"Now I won't argue with that." He had a cheeky grin on his face as he smiled at me.

"I think I should leave you two alone." Luther muttered as he quickly turned around and retreated. The sounds of the boys became louder and my curiosity took the better of me. I turned around and saw that the Greenie was about to join in the fight.

"Should we go watch it?" I asked Minho. He sighed as another moment of ours got ruined by my need to be a part of everything. He nodded his head and let go of me. I took his hand and dragged him towards the circle to watch. Minho stood behind me as he wrapped his arms around me and placed his chin on top of my head.

"Alright, the rules are simple Greenie. I try to push you out of the circle and you try to last more then five seconds." Gally explained the ever so simple rules before facing the Greenie and running towards him. With one big push the Greenie flew into some of the boys behind him, but they caught him and pushed him back up to his feet. Gally grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed him towards the ground. "Come on Greenie, we're not done yet." Gally began to tease the boy as he got his footwork in place. The Greenie spat the sand out of his mouth before getting to his feet.

"Stop calling me Greenie." He said.

"Stop calling you that? What'd you wanna be called? Shank?" Everyone began to laugh at Gally's comment. I shook my head at his idea because he clearly wasn't making him feel welcomed. The Greenie ran towards Gally and the two grabbed onto each other's shirts. They twisted and twirled – trying to see who would fall first and the Greenie ended up being thrown back down onto the floor by Gally. "You know what? I think I've settled on Shank." The rest of the boys continued to laugh as the Greenie got up to his feet. He ran towards Gally and grabbed him by his lower abdomin. Gally began to pushed forwards and right before falling out of the circle the Greenie hit his hand on Gally's back and moved out of the way – sending Gally onto his stomach on the ground. I could feel Minho's expression change as he watched the sight. Now Minho was slightly intrigued.

"Not bad for a Greenie, huh?" The Greenie stood up on his feet before Gally spun around and swiped his leg against his ankles. The Greenie flew backwards and you could almost hear how hard his skull hit the ground. I got out of Minho's grasp as I walked into the circle to check on him. Gally stood up with a facial expression that showed how proud he was of himself. He looked towards me, but I glared back at him.

"Are you okay?" I asked the Greenie as I kneeled down in front of him. His eyes were wide from the collision, but then he began to mutter something.

"Thomas."

"What?" He quickly climbed to his feet and began to yell,

"Thomas! I remember my name! I'm Thomas!" I smiled as I stood up.

"Thomas!" The crowd of boys began to yell Thomas' name. I patted his back and smiled at him. I nodded my head with approval.

"I told you it would all be okay." I said to him before moving out of the way, so the boys could all surround him. I walked back to Minho, who had his arms crossed against his chest.

"You looked like you were about to rip off Gally's head." He smirked at me.

"Because what he did was wrong and childish. Luckily, the fall doesn't seem to have cause any damage to Thomas."

"Maybe it'll knock some sense into him, if he knows what's good for him." However, our celebration was cut short by the familiar sound of the Grievers. A screeching came from the Maze that terrified all the Gladers because we were reminded that we were not alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 _"_ _If you heat up the water to a certain temperature then all the harmful bacteria will die off and the water will be safe to drink." I explained to Alby._

 _"_ _What?"_

 _"_ _But how do you know when it's safe?" Minho asked._

 _"_ _Well we don't exactly have the right tools, so instead we have to wait for it to boil for a certain amount of time, but it can't be for too long because then the water will begin to evaporate. So, we'll just let it boil for about three minutes and see what happens." I came to my conclusion as Minho and Alby both stared at me with blank expressions. "This is probably safer then you two grabbing water from the stream."_

* * *

I wiped the beads of sweat that gathered on my forehead as I finished helping the builders patch up the house where we prepare food. There was an accident with one the Slicers losing their temper, so instead of the builders remaking a whole new wall I gave them a idea to just patch up the hole.

"Hey! Hey!" I looked towards the forest past the garden as I heard screaming. I quickly began to run towards the noise. Thomas came running through the trees pleading for help as Ben came running towards him.

"Shit." I quickly picked up my pace as I ran towards the two. I passed the others that were on their way to help. Ben jumped and grabbed Thomas' leg and sent the two flying into the ground. When Thomas turned around Ben climbed on top of his and pinned to him to ground. "Ben! Stop!" I yelled as I ran closer to them. Newt came towards the two with a shovel and quickly hit Ben's head. Ben rolled onto his back from the hit while Newt, Gally and the other's grabbed hold of Ben. "Let me see." I said as I kneeled down beside Ben.

"What you doing?" Newt asked his friend.

"Calm down Ben." Gally said. As all the others began to figure out why Ben attacked Thomas I quickly noticed the blue vein in his neck. It was enlarged and pulsing. I lifted up his shirt to see that he was Stung. There was a hole on the right side of his stomach that showed the poison reaching outwards with blue veins.

"No. No. No, please." Ben began to beg for everyone to listen, but I shook my head.

"He's been stung, in the middle of the day?" Gally seemed surprised, but so were the rest of us. Alby kneeled down beside me. I looked towards him and I shook my head. He and I knew what we had to do next.

"Put him in the pit." Alby instructed.

"Come on, everyone, help get him into the pit." Some of the boys began to help carry Ben towards the pit. I walked with them to continue to see what was happening to him. There was so little information on what happens to a person after they get stung, so I continued to try and understand. Ben continued to wiggle in everyone's arms as he tried to explain that he was okay.

"Jade, please! You know I would never hurt anyone." He began to beg with me.

"I know, Ben, but you know what we have to do." I said. He yelled out in frustration. As we arrived at the pit we opened the door and threw him in there, but one of the boys let his leg go a little too early, so his foot flew outwards and hit my side before he landed inside of the pit. My right hand flew to my left side as I grabbed where he hit.

"Jade, are you okay?" Newt asked me. I nodded my head.

"It'll probably just feel a little sore. Those boots are made out of hard material." I said as I felt the pain in my side.

* * *

"I don't feel comfortable letting you go in their alone." Newt said to me as I was at the door of the pit where Ben was.

"Well I've done it before." I stated.

"But Ben seems more unstable."

"Maybe he just needs to feel comforted before he starts making sense."

"We'll be right here though, so if he does anything then we're pulling you out, okay?" Gally stated. I nodded my head before climbing into the pit with Ben. He sat up against the wall with his knees hugged to his chest. He was rocking back and forwards while making whimpering noises.

"Ben, it's me, Jade. I need you to tell me what you saw." I calmly approached him. When I knew it was safe to kneel down in front of him I did.

"It's all his fault. He put us in here." Ben began to mumble.

"Who, Ben? Who put us in here?" I asked him again. Ben launched himself forward and grabbed my wrists as he pinned me to the ground.

"It's all his fault Jade! He did this to us! He needs to leave!" Ben yelled in my face as his grip on my wrists tightened. Gally and Newt had jumped into the pit and pushed Ben off of me before pulling me out. We shut the door and locked it as I inspected my wrists. I could feel the tenderness of my skin from how tightly Ben grabbed onto me.

"You shouldn't have done that." Newt scolded me as I continued to look at my wrists.

"They're going to bruise slightly." I commented.

"Did he cut you?" Newt asked me. I showed him my wrists to show that my skin was intact, but that I would slightly bruise.

"I'm fine. Give it a few days and it'll be okay. I'll bandage them up just to give them extra support, so I don't cause any further damage."

"I told you not to do that!" Gally began to raise his voice.

"Well I'm the only one who can without losing their temper!" I yelled at him.

"Did you even get any information out of him or was that a complete waste of time?" He asked me.

"He was just yelling about how _he_ did it."

"Who's _he_?"

"I don't know, Gally. If I did then I would've told you." I snapped back. I pushed past him and began to walk away before I lost my temper with Gally. I made my way towards the hut where Jeff would be to pick up some cloth to wrap around my wrists.

"Maybe next time you should stay outside the pit." Jeff told me.

"We have to learn more about the Change." I said.

"I know, but at what cost?" He asked me. "This was a little bruise, but what about next time? Every time this happens you deal with it and you're the one who gets attacked. Just let someone else do it next time." He said as he finished up with my wrists.

"I'll think about it." I said as I stood up and patted his shoulder. "Thanks Jeff." I walked out of the hut to see Minho running towards me. I smiled as waved at him, but as soon as he reached me a hurricane of questions flew out of his mouth.

"I heard what happened, but what actually happened? Are you okay? Did Ben really do this? I told you not to go into the pit like that! Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"Minho, stop. I'm fine. It's just a little bruising. It'll be a little tender for the next few days, but it'll be okay." Minho grabbed hold of my arms, so he could look at my bandaged up wrists.

"Stop doing that. Make one of the boys do it or something. You shouldn't be near anyone who's going through the Change."

"Look, I'm the one person that everyone trusts, so I have to be the one who talks to them. I could be the only one who gets actual information out." I explained.

"But every time I come back I shouldn't see you like this." I shook my head.

"I don't tell you how to do your job, so don't tell me how to do mine." I reached up and lightly touched his cheek. "I'm perfectly fine. I promise." He grimaced towards me before sighing and placing a chaste kiss on my forehead.

"Just be more careful."


	5. Chapter 5

"Be careful out there today, okay?" I said to Minho and Alby. Newt and I came to say goodbye to the pair before they ran off into the Maze today.

"We'll be fine." Alby said to me.

"I just have a bad feeling about today, okay? So please, be extra cautious." I said to the two of them. Minho nodded his head before placing a peck on my lips.

"I'll be back before you know it." He said to me as he smiled. I nodded my head as the door opened and the two ran off into the Maze to go retrace Ben's footsteps.

"You know they'll be okay, right?" Newt asked me as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. As the two ran down the hall and made a left I nodded my head.

"I hope so." I muttered.

"And you have to stop saying you're going to go into the Maze. You know you can't. Minho would kill you and so would I." Newt smiled at me.

"I know, but I just want to be useful." I said to me.

"You're one of the most useful people here. I'm pretty sure without you this whole camp would fall to pieces." He squeezed my shoulder as I looked up at him.

"Thanks Newt."

* * *

 _"_ _Minho! Minho!" I felt my arms begin to weaken as my grip on the ivy branch became looser and looser._

 _"_ _Take my hand!" I couldn't reach him and he couldn't reach me. I had turned too fast on the ledge that I lost my footing and slipped off. I was so close to the top, but yet so far. As I looked down at the ground again I knew that the drop would break my bones or kill me, but I also couldn't reach Minho's hand. I had no option. Across from me were more ivy vines, but I would need to somehow jump from one wall to the next. I wasn't even at the right angle to do so, so this whole plan seemed ridiculous to me, but it was the only one I had._

 _"_ _I can do this!" I yelled up at Minho._

 _"_ _Do what?" Before I answered him I managed to twist myself around, so my feet were up against the wall. I took in a deep breath before I used the last bit of strength I had to push myself off the wall and towards the one across from me. "Jade! No!"_

* * *

"They should be back by now." Thomas stated the obvious. The rain began to pour down from the sky as we all took shelter. We all kept our eyes glued to door because Minho and Alby still hadn't come back from their run. "What happens if they don't make it?"

"They're gonna make it." Newt simply said.

"What happens if they don't?" Thomas asked again. I could feel Newt look at me before answering Thomas,

"They're gonna make it." Now I was playing the waiting game. I haven't had to play this game for a very long time, but today that was the game I was playing. I had to wait for Minho and Alby to come back and as every minute passed my greatest fear became closer to becoming reality.

As the rain stopped we all came out of our hiding spots and walked towards the door. I stood in the middle as I looked down the hall. Everyone was silent as we all waited for the two to return, but there was no sign of them.

"Come on." I mumbled to myself as my patience dwindled. I wanted Minho back here and I wanted him back here now. I needed to know he was safe. I needed to know that he was coming home.

"Come on guys, can't we send someone after them?" Thomas asked.

"It's against the rules. They either come back or they don't." Gally said.

"Besides, do you really think we wouldn't go after them if we could? None of us know anything about the Maze, so we'd be causing more harm than good." I said. My agitation and frustration began to show with every passing minute.

"We can't risk losing anyone else." Newt said. A big gust of wind erupted from the Maze – signalling that it will be closing the doors now. I stood up straight as the doors began to move.

"There!" Thomas pointed into the Maze and we saw Minho come stumbling from the side with Alby on his back.

"Wait, something's wrong." Newt said.

"Come on Minho! You can do it!"

"Leave him behind!"

"You gotta leave him!"

"Come on Minho!" Everyone began to yell at Minho – encouraging him to make it past the doors, but as I watched to doors move I knew he wouldn't make it.

"Minho!" I yelled out his name, but before I could move forward Newt grabbed a hold of me and held me back. He knew exactly what I was planning on doing and Newt was prepared to keep me in the Glade. "Minho!" I continued to fight against Newt before Gally came to help him keep me inside. I struggled against the two as I tried to get out of their grasp.

"Jade! Stop!"

"I'm going to help them!" I yelled at the two of them. Minho began dragging Alby by his ankles towards the door, but the gap became smaller and smaller. He let out a yell as I continued to yell his name and everyone else continued to encourage him to keep going, but before we knew it Thomas took off and slipped right through the smallest crack to make it into the Maze before the doors closed. Everything went silent as soon as the doors closed. It was almost as if time had stopped. Newt and Gally let go of me as I fell to my knees. I had a blank expression on my face – there were no tears, no screams, it was just empty. I was in shock. I felt as though everything was taken away from me in that moment. All my strength was gone. I couldn't move. I couldn't think. I didn't know what to do.

The boys left me in front of the doors as my head continued to work through everything that had happened. I was going through everything I could've done for them. I was trying to think if he knew a way to stay safe for the night. More and more thoughts came through my head as I continued to wait for the doors to open again because tomorrow I would be the one who was going to go in there and no one was going to stop me.

Newt came and sat down beside me. He didn't say a word. His presence was all I needed at that moment. I placed my head on his shoulder as I brought my knees to my chest. He wrapped his arm around me and comforted me. Silent tears began to run down my face as the pain began to become physical.

"He promised he would always come back." I mumbled.

"I know."

"He broke his promise."

"I know." More tears began to fall down my face as I grieved for the loss of one of my very good friends and for the man that I had fallen in love with. You never think something like this would actually happen to you, but when it does you always feel as though life wasn't fair and life's never fair. However, I would stay in this Glade for a hundred years if it meant Minho would be here with me and he would be safe. This whole situation wouldn't compute in my brain. None of this made sense to me.


	6. Chapter 6

As the door opened up in the morning I lost all hope of Minho still being alive. I clutched onto Newts arm as I looked down the hall. It was completely empty and there was no sign of them.

"I'm sorry, Jade." Newt said to me. My head hung low as I started to come to the realization that Minho was never coming back to me. I looked forward as I heard grunting sounds. I saw Minho and Thomas come from around the corner – Alby was being carried by the two boys. I quickly let go of Newt and ran into the Maze to help them. I gave extra support to Alby as I walked them back into the Glade and placed Alby onto the ground. I began to check Alby's pulse as Chuck asked a question,

"Did you see a Griever?"

"Ya, I saw one." Thomas said.

"He didn't just see it – he killed it." Minho said. I turned to look at Thomas with amazement.

"What the-"

"Before we start bombarding him with questions, we need to get Alby to a bed." I told the boys. They began to rush to Alby and help carry him off with Jeff. I looked at Minho and Thomas before kneeling down in front of them. "Let me look at you two." I stated.

"We're fine." Minho told me.

"I'll be the judge of that." I said. I gave the two a once over before saying that it was okay for them to go clean up. As I walked with Minho I hit him over the head with my hand.

"What was that for?" He asked me as he turned to look at me. I grabbed his face in-between my hands and slammed my lips onto his in a passionate kiss before letting go and wrapping my arms around him.

"If you ever do that to me again I swear I will kill you myself." He laughed as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Were you worried?" He teased me. I looked up at him and hit his chest.

"No duh! I thought you were dead." I said.

"Well I'm still very much alive, obviously." He stated. I hit him again.

"Be more careful." He nodded his head before kissing me again to remind me how much I mean to him.

* * *

The bustling of all the Gladers filled the room. They were still shocked by the fact that Thomas had killed a Griever and brought Alby back alive. This was a huge step for us in the right direction and the excitement in the air became intense.

"Things are changing. There is no denying that. First Ben gets stung in broad daylight and then Alby. And now our Greenie here has taken it upon himself to go into the Maze. Which is a clear violation of our rules." Gally spoke to all of us in the room.

"Ya, but he saved Alby's life." Frypan said.

"Did he? For three years we have coexisted with these things and now you've killed one of them." Gally pointed towards Thomas and blamed him for what had happened. "Who knows what that could mean for us?"

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Newt asked him.

"He has to be punished." The sound of the other Gladers protesting began to fill the room. I stood up from my seat and walked towards Gally. I stood off to the side beside Minho before approaching Gally completely.

"Minho, you were there, what do you think?" Newt asked for Minho's opinion.

"I think, in all the time we've been here no one's ever killed a Griever before. When I turned tail and ran this dumb shank stood behind to help Alby. Look, I don't know if he's brave or stupid, but whatever it is – we need more of it. I say we make him a runner."

"A runner?"

"Why him?"

"Thomas! Thomas!" There were mixed reactions to Minho's statement. I personally thought it was a good idea. Thomas obviously made a discovery that the rest of us have never made before, so this new spunk he brought into our Glade was worth it to me. I looked at Minho with a smirk on my face – almost as if telling him that I was right all along about Thomas. He rolled his eyes at my smug face.

"I agree with Minho." I piped in my two scents. Everyone looked at me with a surprised expression.

"Look, Jade-"

"No Gally. Minho's right! What Thomas did was amazing and he's already done something that we've never been able to accomplish! This means that he has to be good at this. He must know what he's doing." I said.

"You don't know what you're talking about Jade."

"Yes, I do! I've been in that Maze long before everyone else showed up, remember? I used to run it with Minho all day everyday, so I know exactly what I'm talking about." I took a few steps towards Gally as my temper began to rise.

"Well things are different now Jade. I'm just trying to look after everyone here."

"And I'm trying to help get everyone out! The longer we stay here the more damage it does! We want to get out and I believe Thomas will help!"

"Why you little-"

"Hey!" Minho's voice rang from behind me. "Do you really wanna finish that sentence?" I could feel Minho's glare towards Gally. Gally took in a deep breath before turning back to the rest of the boys in the room.

"If you wanna throw the newbie a parade, that's fine!" Gally quickly regained the attention of the boys in the room. "Go ahead! But if there is one thing that I know about the Maze is that you do not-" Then the sound of the Box began to ring. Confusion hit all of our faces as we began to race out of the council hall and towards the Box. Gally and Newt opened up the Box and Newt jumped inside. I pushed myself to the front of the group to see a girl, with ivory skin and long dark brown hair, laying on the ground.

"It's a girl." He said simply. I quickly jumped down into the Box to check if she was alive. "I think she's dead." I placed my hand on her wrist to see if I could feel a pulse, but there was nothing there. I checked her neck as I placed my other hand over her nose.

"No, she's alive." I said.

"What? She's alive?" The boys began to question what I had just said. I mentally slapped myself because they seemed so surprised by the obvious.

"What's in her hand?" Gally asked. As I continued to check if she had sustained any other injuries, Newt took the piece of paper out of her hand and read it aloud.

"She's the last one ever. What the hell does that mean?" A large gasp came from the girl as her eyes sprung open. I moved back slightly by her sudden movement. She looked up and began to gasp for air before saying,

"Thomas." And then she fell back asleep. Everyone look at Thomas as I looked at the girl.

"I kept asking for a girl and you have to come now? Really? And unconscious?" I complained. "Boys, get her to Jeff. She needs to lie down on a proper bed." Minho helped me out of the Box as the others jumped in to pick her up and take her to Jeff for me.

Once she was placed on the bed I was able to take a better look at her head to see if she sustained any trauma to the head, but she was completely clear. Her body was intact and she was breathing normally.

"Do you think she needs to just sleep it off?" Jeff asked me. I nodded my head.

"Ya I think they must have sedated her with something. Sleep should bring her back to normal." I agreed with Jeff. Minho, Thomas and Newt walked into the room where I was to check on the girl on the bed.

"Mom, what's happening?" Newt asked me.

"She just needs some sleep." I replied. "Thomas, do you know her?"

"No." He answered.

"Really because she seemed to recognize you." Newt said.

"What about the note?"

"We'll worry about the note later." New stated.

"I think you should worry about it now." Thomas pushed.

"We have enough to deal with at the moment." Newt said.

"He's right Newt. If the box isn't coming back up then how long do you think we can last?" Jeff asked.

"Stop. We'll figure this out, okay? As of right now we need to keep Alby alive, wake this girl up and figure out what we're going to do with Thomas." I stated.

"But mom-"

"Stop Jeff. I will sort this."

"Okay." Thomas began to walk out of the hut.

"Where are you going?" Newt inquired.

"Going back into the Maze." I sighed at his answer. All I needed right now was for Thomas to rebel right now.

"Minho, can you go deal with him?" I asked my other half. He nodded his head before leaving to go catch Thomas. "I think Minho's right, I do have grey hairs." I sighed as I tried to calm down from all the recent stress.

* * *

"We found this." I looked at the metal object in Newt's hand. One side had thick wires sticking out of it, but the other look as if it could fit in a socket somewhere. The number 7 was shown in red on a little screen. "It was inside a Griever." Thomas continued.

"These are the same letters we get on our supplies." Newt said.

"W. C. K. D." I said.

"Whoever put us here obviously made the Grievers and this is the first real clue, the first anything you have ever found in three years, right Minho?"

"Right."

"Jade, we have to go back out there. Who knows where this might lead us." I began to ponder at what Thomas was saying. This was a very important clue that him and the others had found today, so it could be worth it to let them go back out there again.

"You see what he's trying to do, right?"

"Gally, please." I didn't want him to start on a rant, but he was going to continue anyways.

"Jade, first he breaks our rules and then he tries to convince us to abandon them totally. The rules are the only thing that has ever held us together. Why now are we questioning that? If Alby was here, you know he would agree with me." Gally peeled his eyes away from me and looked towards Thomas. "This shank needs to be punished."

"One night in the pit and no food." Newt said.

"What?"

"And tomorrow morning, he's going to run with Minho." I finished.

"You can't be serious!"

"Oh I am deadly serious!" I looked straight at Gally this time and gave him my full attention. "Thomas will be going out there tomorrow to run with Minho and he will come back with more information on how to get us out of here. With Thomas' recklessness and Minho's knowledge of the Maze then we could get out sooner than we could ever hoped for." I told him.

"How can you put all your faith in this shank?"

"Because Thomas has done more for us than you ever have!" I lost my temper at that moment with Gally. My voice rose and I became dangerously close to Gally.

"What did you say to me?"

"Stop dictating what we do here! We want to get out and Thomas will get us out of here, so you're going to stop bossing all of us around and you're going to be a team player!" Gally raised his hand and pointed his finger in my face.

"Now you listen to me, Jade." Minho quickly reached the two of us and pushed Gally away from me.

"If you're going to point that finger at anyone then it's going to be me." He said. Gally's eyes began to look at every face in the room. He saw what they had decided on and knew that he had lost this battle.

"Good." I turned to Thomas and nodded my head. "You're going into the pit tonight and tomorrow you're running, got it?" He nodded his head before I smiled and clapped my hands. "And with that, I need to go finish up some business."


	7. Chapter 7

"Minho." I walked past the familiar tree to see Minho standing by the stream where we normally meet secretly. He turned around and smiled at me as I walked towards him.

"How are your wrists?" He asked me. He took my hands and began to inspect the bandaged up wrists. He placed light kisses on the cloth before kissing my forehead.

"Do you really think we're close to the end?" I asked him.

"I hope so. I promised you that I'll get us out of here." He said. I nodded my head at his statement.

"I really want us to go home." He wrapped me in his arms and began to pat my black hair. I sighed into his embrace as I began to feel more and more relaxed. "I think you've done a great job these past three years by the way."

"You don't have to say that." I looked up at him to see that he was avoiding my gaze.

"You have run so much for all of us and you've thought of many different things too. Just because Thomas killed a Griever and found that thing doesn't mean you haven't done anything. The only reason why we're going to get out of here is because you know that Maze better than anyone else, okay?" He finally met my eyes. His expression was soft and gentle in that moment. I knew that he felt bad for not figuring this out earlier because he's always felt responsible for not getting us out of here, but he needed to know that he's already done so much for all of us.

"Thank you." He said as he placed a kiss on my lips. "I hope you know that you've done a lot for us too." He said to me. I looked up at him with a raised eyebrow because I was confused by what he had said.

"I don't do much." I replied. He shook his head at me.

"You're the reasonable one out of all of us…and Newt too, but you're the mom of the group. Everyone completely trusts you and knows that all you want is the best for us. I hope you know that everyone really does appreciate everything you've done." I smiled up at him.

"Thanks, but it's hard, you know? I feel like I have to always be calm and collected. Almost like I can't show if I'm scared or worried about something because if I do then it'll affect everyone else. It's just a lot of pressure." My head hung low as I avoided eye contact with Minho. I felt him put his index finger under my chin and raised my head, so I could look into his chocolate coloured orbs.

"I know, but we're almost there. I think we finally have a chance of getting out of here and I promise that when we do then you don't have to put up that front anymore, okay?" I nodded my head in agreement.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

* * *

"What's going on?" I asked Jeff as I ran with him to the hut where Alby was resting. Jeff was yelling my name because he needed me for something, so I had to leave Minho (while we were about to have another moment) in order to follow Jeff.

"Thomas said that girl brought something and they want to give it to Alby." He explained.

"They want to put what in where?" I asked as we reached the hut. I walked inside and I saw Newt, Thomas and the new girl all standing around Alby. "So what's this I heard about you wanting to put something in Alby?"

"Teresa had these in her pocket and we think it might be the cure for Alby." Thomas showed me the two vials that held a blue serum that he believed were going to cure Alby. I inspected the container – seeing how the liquid moved inside as I tilted it, trying to figure out its consistency.

"We don't even know what this stuff is." Newt stated. I nodded my head in agreement. "We don't know who sent it or why it came up here with you. I mean, for all we know this thing could kill him."

"He's already dying. Look at him." Thomas pointed out the obvious as I looked at Alby. Beads of sweat were scattered across his whole body as he continued to gasp for air. I was already quite impressed by how long Alby had lasted. "How could this possibly make it any worse?"

"It could put him in more pain." I pointed out.

"Ya, but it's worth a try." I looked at Newt and waited for his signal. He reluctantly nodded his head.

"Alright. Do it." The blonde looked at Thomas as I handed him the vial. He quickly approached Alby and positioned the vial in his hand. He looked up and down his torso – trying to figure out where to actually inject the serum.

"You want to aim for his heart, so it'll spread across his body a lot faster." I told him. He nodded towards me before Alby grabbed onto his shirt and pulled him downwards.

"You shouldn't be here! You shouldn't be here!" Alby yelled at Thomas.

"Grab him!" Jeff told the others. I quickly went past Teresa and grabbed the vial in Thomas' hand. I placed my hand firmly on his chest before stabbing him with the vial. As soon as the liquid began to enter his bloodstream Alby began to settle down once again.

"I want someone with Alby all around the clock, okay?" I instructed Jeff on my decision for Alby's safety. "And for you, Thomas and Teresa, you better hope this doesn't just kill him." Alby was one of my first friends here, so if he died because of this decision I don't know how I would ever forgive Thomas and Teresa. I don't know how I would ever forgive myself.

* * *

I wiped Alby's forehead with another damp cloth before placing it back into the bucket of water and doing the action all over again. His breathing had settled down completely and the protruding veins that were once on his neck had now gone down in size. I smiled at his progress.

"Do you remember when you first caught Minho and I sharing the smallest kiss and you laughed so hard?" I giggled at the memory of Minho and I sharing the smallest kiss in the forest. We never felt comfortable showing our affection in front of the other Gladers, but then we never officially told anyone that we were 'together'. "You told us that you were waiting forever for that to happen. Or what about that time that we all thought Gally had a thing for me, but it turned out that he just really hates me?" I laughed at another memory we shared. Ever since I met Gally he was always very rude and dictating whatever I did. After everyone kind of found out about Minho and I he became even more volatile towards me, so we all came to the conclusion that he must have liked me and was jealous. However, the truth is that he just didn't want any of us to have that kind of relationship because he wasn't involved.

"Jade?" I looked up from Alby to see the familiar brown haired girl walk in.

"Hi Teresa! What can I help you with?" I asked her. She sat down on a chair on the other side of Alby's bed.

"I just wanted to come and see how Alby was doing."

"He's doing good actually. I'm very positive that he'll make a recovery from that serum you brought with you, so thank you."

"For what?" She looked at me with a confused face.

"For bringing the serum. I know you don't remember why or how you got it, but I am still very grateful and if this does work, then I will owe you big time." I explained to her.

"I'm just glad I could help out since Gally thinks this is all my fault for the Box not going back down." She looked down at her fingers and began to fidget around with the hem of her shirt.

"Take no notice of him, I don't. Just stick with me and you'll be okay." I winked at her when she looked at me and she smiled. My expression changed as I heard the sounds of something crashing in the Maze. It startled me because it wasn't a small sound, but it echoed throughout the whole Glade and you just knew that something very large had toppled over, but it wasn't just one object, it was multiple objects. My heart began to race at the possibility that Minho had gotten hurt by whatever it was. I jumped out of my seat and was about to run outside to wait by the door, but I heard Alby begin to stir. He began to groan in pain as he slightly moved before opening his eyes. "Alby!" I sat back down and placed my hand on his forehead. He blinked his eyes a few times before looking at me. "Teresa, go get Newt for me." She nodded her head and quickly ran out to go fetch the blonde boy that I needed. "Here, it's fine. You can sit up." I helped Alby come to a full sitting position. "Alby, can you remember anything?" I asked him quietly. He nodded his head. "What do you remember?" He wouldn't answer my question, so I just silently wiped away the sweat on his back as I waited for Newt to come in.

"Has he said anything?" I looked up to see that Teresa had brought back Minho, Thomas, Newt, Frypan and Gally. Newt automatically sat down beside Alby.

"Alby. Alby, you alright?" Newt asked his friend. Alby stayed silent as he stared at the floor. I placed my hand on his knee and gave him a reassuring squeeze. Thomas walked over and kneeled down in front of him.

"Hey Alby, we might have just found a way out of the Maze." He tried to tell Alby the good news, but Alby didn't want to hear it. "You hear me? We could be getting out of here." He shook his head before answering,

"We can't." He sounded so broken. He sounded like he had given up. "We can't leave. They won't let us."

"What are you talking about?" Thomas asked.

"I remember."

"What do you remember?" Alby looked over to Thomas before answering,

"You." We all looked at Thomas with surprised faces. A part of me wanted to know more about what Alby was saying. What did Thomas do? Why does he remember Thomas? "You were always their favourite Thomas. Always. Why did you do this? Why did you come here?" A single tear rolled down Alby's cheek as he looked at Thomas. We heard the others outside making a commotion and we al instinctively stood up. Alby took his head in his hands as he closed his eyes. I ran outside with the others to see what the problem was. I was the last one to walk outside and the first thing I noticed was everyone fathering around the doors.

The doors weren't closed.

We weren't safe.


	8. Chapter 8

Four doors were opened. We weren't safe anymore. The Grievers could come in at any moment. We needed protection. We needed to stay alive, but how could we do that? The only two people who know how to protect themselves against Grievers were Thomas and Minho. How were the rest of us going to survive? I needed to stay focused. I needed to protect my family!

"Go hide in the forest or anywhere else. Stay out of sight and be quiet." I instructed the boys. "Thomas, we need to get Alby."

"Got it." But before we could all get moving that's when we heard the yell,

"Grievers!" We saw them. They were large circular creatures that resembled spiders. They made screeching sounds that could easily pierce your eardrums and now they were about to enter the Glade.

"Everyone run and hide! Now!" I yelled at our group. Thomas quickly grabbed Teresa, who was in shock, and ran with me to the cornfield. We quickly got down on our knees and stopped talking. We needed to be silent, but I heard the sound of gears shifting and above Zart was a long mechanical tail and before I could say anything it came down in one fast swoop and picked up Zart.

"Zart!"

"Run! Run now!" I yelled at our group. We began to run out of the cornfield and made our way to the village. We needed to grab Alby and get to the council hall. "Quickly, we have to get to Alby!" I yelled to Thomas. We ran towards the hut to see that Jeff had already grabbed our friend.

"Alby!" Thomas called out his name as we approached him.

"What's going on?" Jeff asked.

"They're here. The Grievers." Thomas said.

"And we have no time to talk about this before we have to go to the council hall now." I instructed to them start moving. As we ran forward a Griever cam crashing through the hut where we would make dinner. It screeched in our faces and brought its tail up. Teresa quickly picked up one of the mason jars that were burning and threw it at the Griever. It caught on fire and became preoccupied with itself. We took this opportunity to run.

"Alright, everyone go go go go go!" Thomas frantically started pushing everyone to make their way towards the council hall. Once the Griever rolled over and extinguished the fire it began to run after us.

"Run guys!" I yelled at our group. I looked behind us and saw that it was catching up to us. "Thomas! Make sure everyone gets to the council hall!" I yelled at him.

"What? Jade?" Before he could stop me I turned around and took out my knife. The Griever began to approach me and screeched in my face as I yelled back at it.

"Come get me!" I yelled at it. I wasn't going to let it hurt my family anymore. I had my knife up and ready to attack the Griever, but right before it reached me I saw wooden spears pierce through its head. I turned to the left and saw Minho, Frypan and Newt running towards me with weapons that they had gathered.

"Come on!" Frypan yelled as they ran towards me to head to the council hall. I quickly turned around and ran with them to our destination. Minho grabbed my hand and began to drag me along and quickly threw the two of us into the council hall before closing the door and locking it. We all gathered in the middle of the council hall and tried to stay silent. Minho held onto my hand with a tight grip and he showed no signs of letting go. The Griever pushed against the door slightly and we heard it walking by us before it became deadly silent. It tried to penetrate through the roof, but luckily it didn't get through. As it moved on top of the roof we tried to move away from it. We climbed up the steps and were closer to the door again. It finally broke through the roof and grabbed one of the beans that supported the roof and pulled it out. The thick wood and straw fell a part and pushed all of us against the sides of the council hall. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't know how to react. One boy was already taken without any warning and then it reached back into the hut and aimed for Chuck.

"Chuck!" I quickly ran for Chuck and grabbed his arm. "Let him go!" I yelled as I tried to pull him back with the help of Minho, Thomas, Newt and Teresa.

"Mom!"

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you!"

"Argh!" I then heard a large cry come from Alby as he began to bang on the Griever's arm before breaking off the poison. Chuck was then released from its grasp and he fell right into my arms.

"It's okay. I got you." I said as I patted his hair. He clutched to my shirt as I held him close.

"Thanks Alby." We all looked at Alby for one last second before the mechanical arm came back into the hut and grabbed Alby.

"Alby!" But before I could reach him Thomas had already lost his grip on him and Alby was gone. Thomas became enraged and quickly ran outside. The rest of us ran after him to pull him back into the council hall, so we could all be safe. When we came out of the council hall everything was set on fire. Everything was ruined. "No." I felt tears well up in my eyes as I looked around. "No." Gally started walking towards us and without any warning he punched Thomas right in the face. "Gally stop!" I yelled at him as I pushed him away. Frypan, Newt and Minho all held Gally back.

"No Jade! I've listened to you long enough! This is all his fault!"

"No it's not Gally!"

"Look around! Look around! You heard what Alby said, he's one of them!"

"Shut-up Gally!"

"No! They sent him here to destroy everything and now he has!" I couldn't help myself. Everything was ruined. My best friend was dead. I didn't have anything to lose, so I finally lost my cool. I raised up my fist and I hit Gally right in the face.

"Shut-up Gally!" I screamed. Everyone was a little shocked by what I had just done. Minho let go of Gally and looked at me. I was shaking with adrenaline because of my temper. I couldn't control myself.

"Why you little bitch!" Gally yelled at me.

"Hey! Watch you mouth!" Minho turned around and got right into Gally's face.

"Of course you're going to side with her! It's got nothing to do with the fact that she sucks-" Minho lost his temper and punched Gally in the mouth.

"Don't you ever talk about her like that or I swear that I will give you to the Grievers!" Minho threatened Gally.

"Thomas!" I turned around to see that Thomas was on the floor because he had picked up the venom that the Griever once had and stabbed himself in his leg.

"Are you serious right now?" I freaked out as I ran to him and got down on my knees. I quickly pulled out the second vial from my pocket and pulled away his shirt, so I could stab it into his chest. "Take him to the pit." I instructed the boys.

"What?"

"Just do it!" I yelled. They didn't question what I wanted. They picked him up and began to walk towards the pit.

"Hey Jade!" I turned around and saw Gally run towards me.

"You better step back before I punch you again Gally!" I threatened him. He was about to say something before Minho walked in front of me and stood face to face to Gally. Gally swallowed the lump in his throat and turned around and started walking away. "Thank you." I said to Minho as we began to walk towards the pit. He took my hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

"First of all, never stand in front of a Griever like that again and secondly, good punch." I looked up at him and saw the smallest smirk on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

"Gally you can't do this." I tried to reason with the blue eyed boy in front of me, but he continued to pace back and forth.

"I have to! Look at what he's done Jade! He has to leave!" He was frustrated by the fact that the place that he calls home was now completely destroyed and his friends were dead and I understood that, but I didn't want Thomas and Teresa to leave.

"Why are you punishing Teresa?"

"Because she knows him! She knew him the second she woke up and that means that she's obviously working with Thomas to kill us all!" He waved his arms in the air – over exaggerating everything.

"But they're helping us get out!" I tried to reason with the man in front of me, but he wasn't having any of it.

"Listen, it's been decided, Thomas and Teresa are leaving and I would've sent you with them, but I know that everyone would take your side, so be grateful that you're staying here with us." I groaned out of frustration from talking with Gally.

"This still isn't fair!"

"That's the end of this discussion Jade!" He yelled at me. I sighed before turning around and going to tell everyone else what Gally had decided.

* * *

Newt, Minho, Chuck and I stood outside the pit Teresa and Thomas were in. We waited patiently for Thomas to wake up, so we could tell him everything that had happened in a few hours. When he finally came to he sat up and looked around frantically before looking at us.

"What happened?" He asked us.

"Gally's taken control. He said we had a choice, either join him or get banished at sundown with you." Newt answered.

"And the others agreed to that?" Thomas asked as he switched his position to look at us properly.

"Gally has everyone convinced that you're the reason why all of this has happened." Teresa answered. Thomas nodded his head as he understood what was being said.

"Well, he's been right so far." He commented.

"What're you talking about?" Minho asked him.

"This place, it's not what we thought it was. It's not a prison it's a test. It all started when we were kids, they would give us these challenges…they were experimenting on us and then people started disappearing. Every month, one after the other, like clock work."

"To send them up into the Maze." I said.

"Ya, but not all of us."

"What do you mean?" Newt asked.

"Guys, I'm one of them. The people who put you here – I worked with them. I watched you guys for years; the entire time you've been here…I was on the other side of it. So were you." I looked at Teresa as Thomas addressed her.

"What?"

"Teresa, we did this to them."

"No. That can't be true."

"It is. I saw it."

"Why would they send us up if we were with them?"

"It doesn't matter."

"He's right. It's doesn't matter. Any of it." We all looked at Newt as he began to talk. "Because the people we were before the Maze, they don't even exist anymore. These creators took care of that, but what does matter is who we are now and what we do right now. You went into the Maze and you found the way out."

"Ya, but if I hadn't then Alby would still be alive."

"Maybe, but I know that if he were here that he would be telling you the exact same thing. Pick your ass up and finish what you've started because if we do nothing then that means Alby died for nothing and I can't have that." And with that we started to make our plan.

* * *

Gally had two wooden poles set up by the doors. Teresa and Thomas were brought over to the doors by the other boys in the Glade. I stood behind Gally and waited for my cue to make my move.

"This is such a waste." Gally started.

"Gally! This doesn't feel right man." Winston said.

"Ya, what if Thomas is right? Maybe he can lead us home." Jeff added.

"We are home, okay?" He said.

"But what about our real homes?" I asked him.

"This is our real home Jade. I don't want to have to cross off anymore name off that wall."

"You really think banishing us is going to solve anything?" Teresa asked.

"No, but this isn't a banishing. It's an offering." With that the boys started to tie Teresa up to the wooden post as she protested.

"Woah, wait a minute. Gally!"

"Shut-up Jade!"

"An offering? This isn't some human sacrifice crap that'll make the Grievers leave us alone?" I tried to reason with him one last time, but he wasn't having any of it.

"You really think I'm going to let Thomas back into the Maze after what he's done? Look around you! Look at our Glade, this is the only way and when the Grievers get what they came here for everything goes back to the way it was."

"Are you listening to this? Why are you all just standing there, he's crazy?" Teresa told the others.

"Can you shut-up?"

"If you stay here the Grievers are going to come back. They're going to come back and they're going to keep coming back until you're all dead."

"Shut-up! Tie him up!" With that the tried to pick Thomas off of the floor, but he elbowed the one to his left in the groin and grabbed his staff before hitting his head. Teresa kicked the guy in front of her while Newt took out the guy in front of him. Minho went to cut off the ropes on Teresa as I pushed my blade into Gally's back.

"I wouldn't move if I were you." I told him. I slowly dragged my blade around his body before making my way to the group in front of the doors. "Chuck." I called for the brown haired boy to come towards us with our supplies.

"You're full of surprises, aren't you?" Gally asked.

"You don't have to come with us, but we are leaving." Thomas said. "Anyone else who wants to come, now's you last chance."

"Don't listen to him, he's just trying to scare you."

"No I'm not trying to scare you, you're already scared. I'm scared. But I'd rather risk my life out there than spending the rest of it in here. We don't belong here. This place isn't our home. We were put here. We were trapped here. At least out there we have a choice. But we can make it out of here. I know that." Winston was the first to walk towards us and Jeff followed afterwards. A few of the other Gladers decided to join us for our one last chance of gaining freedom. "Gally, it's over. Just come with us."

"Good luck against the Grievers." With that no one said anything else. We had all accepted our sides and our fate, so our new group turned around and entered the Maze together. Thomas was our leader throughout the run to sector 7. Minho ran beside me as I ran beside Chuck. Minho could sense that I was scared about what was about to happen. I didn't want us to die here because my heart was set on freedom, but there was no guarantee of that freedom here. Minho would lightly touch my arm to remind me that he was here with me and that we were going to get through this and with his support and my closest friends around me I knew that we could succeed.

As we reached our last corner we all leaned up against the wall. Thomas looked down the hall and looked back at us. We knew exactly what we were up against.

"Griever?" I asked. He nodded his head.

"Ya."

"You take this Chuck. Stay behind us." Minho handed Chuck the key that would open up the door.

"You stay close to me, okay?" I placed my hand on Chuck's shoulder as he looked up at me and nodded his head.

"Straight through and it'll activate the door and the door will open." Thomas began to explain what we were meant to do. "We stay close. We stick together and we can get through this. We get out now or we die trying. Ready?" Everyone readied their weapons before we went to attack.

"Let's go get our freedom guys." I said. With a determined look on all our faces we rounded the corner and yelled as we approached the Griever. It screeched as it saw us coming and ran towards us. All the guys with wooden spears went to the front and right when the Griever went on its hind legs they placed the spear under its head and pushed it off to the side, so we could run past. It continued to push forward and attack us, but we continued to push back with our spears. It would screech at us the harder we pushed before bringing its tail up and grabbing one of the boys and throwing him off the edge. It placed its leg onto the ground in front of Teresa and she took that opportunity to chop at it with her knife. The key to the door flew out of Chuck's hand and down the landing and towards the edge. "Chuck!"

I ran towards him as he fell off the edge to grab the key. I grabbed his legs and was about to pull him up before he frantically started yelling,

"Pull me up! Pull me up!" As I pulled him up the Griever made its way onto the landing and a second one joined from behind me. The two of us began to run back to the group as Chuck yelled, "Thomas! Thomas!"

"Minho!" I saw the group of boys turn to look at the two of us and realize that even though they took care of one Griever, there were now two more coming after us. The boys quickly came to cover us as we ran past them and headed towards the door. I quickly grabbed Teresa's hand and dragged her along with us. As we ran to the wall we heard the clicking sound of gears at the door opened.

"It worked!" Chuck was excited that it worked, but hearing the cries of our friends from behind us reminded us that we weren't done yet. We ran forward and into the circular hole that was in the wall. Teresa, Chuck and I began to bang on the edge of the tunnel – trying to find out how it opened.

"There's gotta be a way out!" Teresa yelled out of frustration. Then a large red circle appeared on the middle of the wall with the numbers 1-8.

"It's a code!" I yelled. I turned around the boys and yelled towards Thomas, "Thomas! Eight numbers! It's a code." However, as soon as the words left my mouth I knew exactly what they were. "What's the sequence of the outer sections?"

"Minho! The sequence! The sections to the Maze. What is it?" Thomas asked.

"7, 1, 5, 2, Argh!" I turned around to see that a Minho was on top of him.

"Minho!" Jeff had come to the rescue and stabbed his spear into the Griever's head, but then the Griever snapped up his body as Minho escaped and finished the sequence,

"6, 4, 8, 3!" He yelled out the numbers. As we quickly punched it in the circle turned green and the walls outside the tunnel began to fall down on the Grievers. The tunnel then closed before the door finally opened. There was a bright light as we stepped into the hallway. The lights quickly turned on up and down the whole hallway and showed us how much more walking we would need to do. Pipes ran across the walls as the ceilings were covered in florescent light bulbs. As we travelled down the hallway in our extremely small group we finally arrived at a door that read 'EXIT' in big bold green letters. It was in that very moment where I almost slapped myself because this almost seemed too easy.

"Really?" Frypan commented on the obviousness of the sign. Thomas pushed open the door to reveal another hallway that was covered in smoke. The light sound of an alarm rang through the hallway as we made our way down. People in white lab coats laid on the floor in their own pool of blood as some had guns beside them and others did not. Minho walked in front of me as we walked down the hallway and saw that patients underneath white blankets were also shot to death in their bed. At the end of the hallway we made it to the control room. There were screens everywhere and broken glass from gunshots. More dead bodies were scattered at desks as they had all appeared to had fallen from their chairs.

"So they were watching us." Newt said. I looked over to see that he had found the screens that showed the Glade. This whole place was disgusting.

"How could they watch us suffer like that?" I asked as I continued to look around. I became even more frustrated with the situation because I didn't want these people dead. I wanted them alive! I wanted to make them pay for what they've done to us!

"Hello, my name is Doctor Ava Paige." I quickly looked over at the largest screen in the room to see a women with pale white skin, red lipstick and her blonde hair tied back with a clip talking to us. "I am director of operations at the World Catastrophe Kill Zone Department. If you're watching this then that means you have successfully completed the Maze trials. I wish I could be there in person to congratulate you, but circumstances seemed to have prevented that." In the video the alarm began to ring as people started to get up in a panic. "I'm sure by now that you must all be very confused, angry, frightened. I can only assure you that everything that's happened to you, everything we've done to you, it was all done for a reason. You won't remember, but the sun has scorched out world. Billions of lives lost to fire, famine, suffering on a global scale. The fall out was unimaginable. What came after was worse." She began to play a video of a virus entering the body and showing what it did to humans. It looked the same as the Change in the Maze. "We called it the Flare – a deadly virus that attacks the brain. It is violent, unpredictable, incurable or so we thought. In time a new generation emerged that could survive the virus. Suddenly, there was a reason to hope for a cure, but finding it would not be easy. The young would have to be tested, even sacrificed inside harsh environments, where their brain activity could be studied – all in a effort to see what makes them different. What makes you different. You may not realize it, but you're very important. Unfortunately your trials have only just begun." Sparks were shown in the video behind the woman and people dressed in black and holding guns ran into the room behind her. "As you will no doubt soon discover – not everyone agrees with our methods. Progress is slow, people are scared…it may be too late for us. For me. But not for you. The outside world awaits. Remember, wicked is good." And with that she pulled a pistol and brought it to her temple before pulling the trigger. We all looked away at the end, so we wouldn't see the blood falling out of her head as she killed herself. Thomas walked past us and towards someone else, but I continued to look at the ground. The sudden truth and realization of what was actually outside hit me like a ton of bricks and I didn't know if I wanted this anymore. I felt the reassuring hand of Minho on my shoulder as I looked up at him. He had the same expression on his face, but he took my hand and walked me over to the rest of our group. Then suddenly the door on our right opened up and we could see a sliver of the outside world.

"Is it over?" Chuck asked.

"She said we were important." Newt stated. Everyone was very confused at this moment and none of our questions had been answered. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

"I don't know." Thomas quietly answered.

"Let's get out of here." I said.

"No." We all turned around at the sound of a familiar voice. Gally stood behind all of us with his own key in his hand and his veins on his neck already protruding.

"Gally?" Thomas began to walk towards him before Teresa stopped him.

"He's been stung." I said. He dropped the key in his hand as he looked at us with a expression that was mixed with sadness, hurt, and anger.

"We can't leave."

"We did. Gally, we're out." Thomas tried to reason with the boy in front of him. "We're free."

"Free? You think we're free out there? No. No, there's no escape from this place." He brought his hand up and pointed his gun towards Thomas.

"Gally." I said his name once and he pointed the gun at me and yelled,

"Don't move!" He pointed the gun back to Thomas. Minho instinctively moved in front of me to protect me.

"Gally, listen to me. You're not thinking straight. You're not and we can help you. Just put down the gun."

"I belong to the Maze."

"Just put down the gun."

"We all do." At the time Gally shot the gun Minho picked up his spear and stabbed Gally right in the heart. He fell to his knees as we watched him die in front of us. He fell over to his side and you could see the look at sadness in his eyes.

"Thomas." I looked over to see that Chuck was clutching his chest. Blood was gathering on his shirt and that's when I noticed that Chuck had thrown himself in front of Thomas to protect himself.

"Chuck!" I screamed as I ran to him and caught him as he fell. I cradled his head in my lap as I began to cry looking at him. "Chuck! You have to keep breathing okay? We're getting out now."

"Shit. Shit. Oh shit. Shit." Thomas continued to curse in front of Chuck as he clutched onto his shirt.

"I need to apply pressure, so you don't bleed as quickly, okay?" I started to fumbled with my own shirt and was about to rip a piece off for him before he told me otherwise,

"Don't."

"Chuck…."

"Thomas…"

"Yes?" Chuck tried to give Thomas the carving he had made for his parents that he was so proud of. "No, you're going to give it to them yourself."

"Take it. Thank you. Thank you." I continued to cry as I looked at the boy I considered my own son.

"You're going to give it to them yourself, remember?" Thomas told Chuck.

"Mom?"

"Yes? I'm right here." I said as I kissed his forehead.

"Thank you." He whispered. He stopped shaking under my hands as his body became still and his breathing stop. I felt my heart break in that moment as I knew he was gone. Thomas began to yell in protest, but I couldn't move. I couldn't say anything. I just continued to cry as I saw the most beautiful little boy die in my lap and I couldn't do anything to save him.

I didn't realize it when Minho had wrapped his arms around me and made me stand. I didn't realize when he helped me walk outside when men dressed in all black came into the room. I didn't realize when we got into the helicopter. I was completely emotionless. I was completely numb. He was gone.

Chuck was gone.

He died to save Thomas.

And I was outside the Maze.

Nothing seemed fair in that moment.

Nothing was fair.


	10. Chapter 10

I was still in shock. My body wouldn't respond because I wasn't in the mindset to know what was going on. All I could remember was holding Minho's hand and going into a building. The room was extremely large and was covered with boxes and metal cases filled with different contents. A man named Mr. Jansen came in and took us to clean up, but I didn't pay attention to his nonsense. I didn't care.

As I stood under the shower I was relieved. I could feel all the dirt and grime that I had collected over the past three years wash off me. I felt my skin announce that it was brand new again. My hair felt light and fluffy and filled with life and for a second all the pain went away, but as I put my clothes on it all came back.

They laid out a pair of pants that were black and stretchy. I examined the material and it looked and felt familiar, but I wasn't too sure as to what it was called. Beside it was a pair of blue jeans and I chose the jeans to wear – since I knew what it was. They gave me a black polo shirt to wear. I requested for an elastic band to tie my hair up and keep it out of my face and luckily they provided me with it. Afterwards I was escorted down the hall and into a room where everyone else was. A doctor was looking after everyone and running tests on us all. I was placed on the last bed beside Minho – who was running on the treadmill.

"Hello, Jade. Are you ready to get started?" I looked up and noticed a female doctor in front of me. I looked towards Minho and he almost paused for a second. I felt so vulnerable that anything could happen to me and I wouldn't have cared, so Minho felt even more protective over me. I shook my head and mouthed,

"I'm okay." He reluctantly nodded his head and the doctor closed the curtain.

* * *

"I need to see Minho." I told the doctor in front of me. She smiled at me as we continued to walk.

"You can see him soon." She said. I shook my head and stopped walking.

"I need to talk to him now!" I raised my voice slightly and that's when I began to hear yelling. I looked to my left and noticed that I was standing in front of a window that showed the inside of a cafeteria room. Many other teenagers were in that room and were eating meals. Minho was up against the glass looking at me. "Minho!"

"You can see him later. We need to finish our tests." The guards began to push me along without my consent. Minho continued to yell as he banged against the window. The room they put me in was with Teresa. I sat down on the bed beside hers and waited for my next instruction.

"What do you think they're going to do to us?" She asked me. She looked at me with scared eyes and I knew that I had to be the strong one again. I gave her a light smile before responding,

"It's okay! They're supposed to help us, right?"

"I guess so…I just wish we could see the others." She looked down at her hands.

"I know, but we'll see them soon, okay? I promise!" She looked up at me and she smiled. As she nodded her head she knew I always kept my promise and I just hoped that I could keep this one.

* * *

"Let me go see Minho." I demanded. The doctor stood beside my bed and shook his head.

"We're not done running our tests, especially since we've now learned about what happened in the Maze. We need to make sure your healthy." He explained.

"Then move that stupid curtain and let me talk to Teresa."

"She needs her rest, so we can't do that. I also suggest that you get some rest too." I started to get out of the bed before he stood in front of me,

"Well if you won't let me go see my friends then I'll just leave myself."

"Please cooperate. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you." I stood up and right in front of him.

"Is that a threat?" I asked him. I saw him swallow the small ball in his throat.

"I'm sorry, but we have to do this." Then I felt a needle go straight into the side of my neck from behind.

"What the fuck did you put inside of me?" He didn't reply to me. I began to lose consciousness and the last thing I saw was that doctors face.

* * *

 _"_ _You're so perfect." My mother said to me. She had her trademark smile on her face as she pushed my hair out of my face._

 _"_ _But I fell." I continued to cry as I stood in front of my mother. I fell off my bike and felt like a failure._

 _"_ _You can't learn things right away sweetheart. Things take time." She explained to me._

 _"_ _But this is me! I can do anything!" I complained. She giggled as I stomped my foot. I felt my father place his hand on top of my head as he bent down to my level._

 _"_ _You're just like your mother, Jade." He laughed as he smiled. "You will learn how to ride your bike because you're going to get back on it, right?" As I wiped away my tears I nodded my head before raising my fist._

 _"_ _I'll be the best bike rider!" I turned around and ran back to my blue bike and hopped on. I saw my father give the love of his life a kiss. I saw them smile to each other and I smiled. I wanted to have something like that when I grew up. I wanted that love._

* * *

 _"_ _So you're saying they're dead?" I asked the red haired lady in front of me. She placed her hand on my shoulder as people continued to go into my home._

 _"_ _I'm sorry sweetheart, but it's okay because I know a place where you can go." She explained._

 _"_ _I want to go where they are." I said._

 _"_ _But they're-"_

 _"_ _Dead. I want to be dead with them." The lady didn't know what to say to me. She looked at me with a face filled with sadness._

* * *

 _"_ _I don't like these games." I protested. A tall man in a white lab coat stood in front of me with his clipboard. They always stood there dressed like that and I hated it! Why couldn't they dress like normal people?_

 _"_ _But you need to play these games or you'll get in trouble." He said to me._

 _"_ _I don't care! I'm not playing!" I yelled at him._

 _"_ _I'll give you one more chance." He stood in front of me with a serious face. I looked past him to see one of my friends behind him. His name was Minho and he was the only person I enjoyed talking to in this stupid place. He mouthed the word play to me. I sighed._

 _"_ _Fine."_

* * *

 _"_ _That was pretty extreme." I snuck out of my room to go see Minho, but the doctors were out late tonight. I was listening to their conversation from around the corner._

 _"_ _Well they said that they really wanted her to come in."_

 _"_ _But to kill her parents?" I felt my heart stop. Whose parents did they kill? Who were they talking about?_

 _"_ _They said it was all because of her intelligence level and if you match that up with her personality they believe that when the time comes she'll succeed in the Maze trial."_

 _"_ _They think she'll be immune?"_

 _"_ _They say she will be immune. She's one of our best candidates."_

 _"_ _That sucks though…poor Jade." My whole body froze in that second. My parents were killed by these monsters. By these stupid people in white coats who always held clipboards. They wanted me for a ridiculous reason. They made me an orphan because they wanted me that badly! I hated them. I wanted them all dead. I would make sure that they all died._


	11. Chapter 11

I woke up in a panic. My memories had come back and now I knew the truth about W.C.K.D. However, seeing the doctor in the white lab coat struck a nerve.

"Jade, you're awake-"

"Don't come near me." I warned him.

"Jade, what's wrong?"

"I said to stay away from me."

"Jade-"

"Leave me alone!" I screamed at the man with glasses. Then the door opened and we saw Doctor Crawford walk in. Thomas, Minho, Newt and Frypan all barged into the room. "Minho!"

"Jade!" Minho ran over to me as Thomas moved to Teresa.

"Minho, what's happening?" I asked him.

"I'll explain later, but we have to go, okay? Did they hurt you?" He placed his hand on my cheek.

"I don't think so."

"Guys we have to go!" Newt yelled as he ran to the glass window and broke it down with Thomas.

"Stay close to me." I nodded my head as he grabbed my hand and quickly jumped over the ledge of the window. Minho took my hand and helped me climb over without cutting myself. We ran to the door and Thomas opened it, but a man stood in front wearing a black ski mask and a green jacket. Thomas panicked and quickly shot the gun at the man. It turns out that it was a taser gun and the man flew back due to the voltage that he had received.

"Shit." I said.

"Come on!" Thomas waved for us to follow him. We ran down the hall and turned right. We made it to the main hallway where the entrance was at the end of it. "There it is!" We quickly ran towards it and Thomas began to try to scan a pass to open up the door, but it continued to deny the card. "Come on! No! No! No! No! No!"

"Thomas!" We all turned around to see Mr. Jansen and his men walking down the hallway. Thomas readied his gun and walked towards Mr. Jansen.

"Open this door Jansen!"

"You really don't want me to."

"Open the damn door!" Minho began to try to open the door with the card, but it continued to deny the card.

"Listen to me! I'm trying to save your life. The Maze is one thing, but you kids wouldn't last one day out in the Scorch. If the elements don't kill you then the Cranks will. Thomas, you have to believe me. I only want what's best for you."

"Ya, let me guess, W.C.K.D is good?" When I heard that I had to look between Thomas and Jansen. Were we still a part of W.C.K.D?

"You're not getting through that door Thomas." At that very second the lock turned green and the door opened. Winston stood beside a white boy with a petite frame.

"Hey guys." The other boy greeted us.

"Come on." Frypan said as we walked into the room. We all turned around and saw Thomas.

"Come on Thomas!" Then the door began to close. Thomas quickly shot at the guards before him as he turned around and ran for us. We all continued to scream for him to make it on time. He reached down to the ground and slid across the floor – just making it past the door before it closed. The new guy smashed the control panel, so they wouldn't be able to open the door. I quickly turned around and saw a backpack off to the side filled with water bottles. I quickly ran for it and was about to put it on myself, but Minho grabbed it from me.

"I'll carry it."

"Come on!" Our group began to run to the other side of the room to the main door that would lead us outside. Thomas flipped the handle and the giant metal doors opened in front of us. A giant gust of wind hit our faces as sand began to hit our eyes.

"Let's keep moving!" Newt instructed. We began to run away from the base. We ran up a hill made of sand before slightly slipping.

"Everyone get down." I instructed as I noticed lights coming from behind. We quickly hid behind a wall of sand as we waited for them to leave. When they left we continued to move. "Teresa! Slow down!" I yelled for the brown haired girl to run with the rest of us, but she quickly found a place to stay.

"In here!" She yelled before running into a place that we didn't know.

* * *

 **I'm sorry I went MIA, but my semester is done now, so I'll have a ton of time to write again! Hopefully you guys will like some of the upcoming chapters! :D**


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